Ramadan

As-Salam to all my fellow Muslims and Muslimas

Ramadan is the month of mercy,patience,reward,Victory,It is allso the month when the Quran was reveal to all of Mankind.
May Allah(swt) forgive us for our mistakes and guide the Muslims to the right path.
To you Allah(swt) we ask for guidance and Victory over the oppression that is happening in the Muslims lands, with the re-establishment of the Khalifah.Insha-Allah
May Allah swt shower you all with the good in this world and in the hereafter(Jannah ul Ferdous).

Ramadhan mubarak to you all and the Muslim Ummah!!!!!

Revival of the Islamic Culture

Arabic and the Revival of Islamic Culture

Allah (swt) said:

"And We revealed it as an Arabic Qur'an, that you might gain wisdom"

[TMQ: Surah Yusuf, ayah 2]

Suppose you were a non-Muslim living in a country that had joined itself to the Khilafah's territories. The old taghuti rulers would be gone, allowing the reorganization of the new wilayah (province) in harmony with the political, social, and economic system of Islam. No one would come to your door with a sword to make you quit your old religion; but still, Islam would be all about you in the streets.

Most likely, you'd even notice that it worked. Your new rulers, though Muslim, would be directly responsible and accountable to you; and your taxes probably would be less. Better still, being a citizen of the constantly expanding Khilafah would open new opportunities for material advancement: new jobs and markets, among others.

To take full advantage of these, however, you would have to make yourself skilled in Arabic, the common and official language of the Khilafah. Fortunately, that wouldn't be too difficult: some sounds might be unfamiliar, but the grammar is much simpler than say, English, French, or Latin. With a little luck, you might even become better at it than Arabs themselves, or at least good enough to understand Arabic poetry and the technical works you study to improve yourself.

One day, you might find yourself walking outside a masjid, or through a public place, hear somebody reciting the Qur'an, then realize it is not background noise anymore. It is a reading in Arabic, but not like anything you heard or read before. It reminds you of poetry, yet it really isn't; every word is "just right," making its message equally profound and simple. How could a human being, someone who couldn't read or write, make this up? It had to come from God Himself! And that would be your first step into Islam, something that came about because you saw, heard, and knew that it was true.

In this way, whole peoples found the truth in Islam, one person at a time. It was a slow process-Egypt, for example, lived hundreds of years under the Khilafah before it had a Muslim majority-but it produced the kind of people who could keep Islam working and sacrifice for it when needed, whatever the conditions.

If a Muslim understanding Arabic knew-not just believed, for "belief" always contains a smidgen of doubt-that the Qur'an came from Allah alone, then he or she would know that Allah knew everything about his or her actions and intentions.

And that Muslim would know, just as the sky is blue, that sooner or later, he or she would have to meet Allah, face to face, and give account for his or her brief time on earth, before seeing the stark reality of Heaven and Hell!

And knowing that, it would be strange indeed if he or she did not then live avoiding everything Allah hates, and clinging for dear life to all that He loves, including struggling in His path, "straightening the rulers," and yes, defying them when they go astray.

That is why the Islamic State must make standard Arabic its official language as an essential tool for preserving the Islamic system and doing dawah. Among the worst mistakes of the Ottomans was their failure to appreciate the importance of Arabic among themselves. The results were even more tragic when the Mughal sultans made Persian, then Urdu, their court and literary languages, and not Arabic. (These days, even in Arab-speaking countries, the masses' command of the Arabic of the Qur'an is slipping as local dialects start to predominate: the average Egyptian, we have heard, might understand as little as one word out of three in Allah's Book. It is even worse, unforgivably so, among women, where higher rates of illiteracy tend to prevail. However, this situation is relatively easy to repair.)

Whether born into the Deen or not, Muslims who can't taste the miracle of the Arabic Qur'an miss the rock-solid certainty it brings. They look for it in other ways: possibly doing more salah, saying it "more sincerely," or reciting more "dhikr," whether they understand what they are saying or not. Perhaps too, they try to replace a bond of knowledge with one of emotion: we love Islam because of our parents, our spouses, our shaykhs, or other Muslims. None of these ways really work, because they distract us from the things we really need to be doing to revive Islamic Civilization, and make us depend mainly on ordinary human beings, who aren't prophets and are apt to let us down, sooner or later.

Make no mistake, the new Khilafah will need, right away, many thousands of people, men and women, who can understand and use the basic sources of Islam in their original language-even before it needs scientists and engineers, though Allah knows they'll be wanted, too. They are found most quickly, whether we like it or not, in the present-day Arab-speaking countries; and that is one reason why the nucleus of the Islamic State is best begun, God willing, there.

Al-Huda (guidance) Wa-Dhalal (deviation)

Al-Huda Wa-Dhalal

In the Arabic language “Al-Huda” (guidance) means “Al-Rashad” (to be rightly guided). In Shari'ah terminology, “Al-Hidayah” is to be guided to Islam and to have Iman in it. “Al-Dhalal” according to Shari'ah is to deviate from Islam; for instance,

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

“Truly Allah does not gather my Ummah over a Dhalalah (misguidance).”

Allah (swt) has made Heaven for the guided and Hell for the strayed; meaning that Allah (swt) rewards the guided and punishes the misguided. Hence, making the reward and the punishment dependent on “Al-Huda Wa-d-Dhalal” indicates that guidance and misguidance are part of man’s actions and not from Allah (swt) ; for if they were from Allah (swt), He would not reward for the guidance and punish for the Misguidance, for this would lead to attributing injustice to Allah (swt) and Allah (swt) is far too exalted above this.

Allah (swt) says:

"Nor is your Lord ever unjust to His servants."

[41-46]

Allah (swt) also says:

"And I do not the least injustice to My servants.."

[50-29]

However, there are several Ayat(verses) that indicate the attribution of Al-Huda Wa-d-Dhalal to Allah (swt). Hence, one can deduce from these Ayat that Al-Huda Wa-d-Dhalal are not from the servant, but rather from Allah (swt). Other Ayat(verses) indicate the attribution of Al-Huda Wa-d-Dhalal and Idhlal (misguiding others) to the servant, and one can deduce from these that “Al-Hidayah” And Al-Dhalal is from the servant.

It is imperative to understand all these verses jurisprudentially, meaning that the Shari'ah reality for which they have been decreed must be perceived. Then, it becomes clear that the attribution of Al-Huda Wa-d-Dhalal to Allah (swt) has a different indication to the attribution of Al-Huda Wa-d-Dhalal to the servant; also, it becomes clear that each one of them is directed at a side that is different to the side to which the other is directed. Hence, the Shari'ah meaning becomes conspicuously clear.Indeed, the Ayat that attribute “Al-Dhalal Wal-Hidayah” to Allah (swt) are clear in the fact that it is He (swt) who guides and that it is He (swt) who misguides.

Allah (swt) says:

"Say truly Allah leaves to stray whom He wills and He guides to Himself those who turn to Him in penitence."

[13-27] .

Allah (swt) also says:

"Allah leaves to stray whom He wills and guides whom He wills."

[35-8] .

Allah (swt) also says:

“Hence Allah leaves to stray whom He wills and guides whom He wills."

[14-4]

Allah (swt) also says:

“But He leaves straying whom He wills and guides whom He pleases."

[16-93].

The literal meaning of these verses contains a clear indication that the One who makes “Al-Hidayah Wal-Idhlal” is Allah (swt) and not the servant. This means that the servant does not get guided by himself but if Allah (swt) guides him then he will be guided and if he misguides him then he will stray. However, there are conjunctions which divert this literal meaning to other than the meaning of having the Guidance and Misguidance initiated by Allah (swt). These meanings attribute the creation of “Al-Hidayah Wal-Dhalal” i.e. Guidance and Misguidance to Allah (swt), and attributed the initiation of “Al-Hidayah Wal-Dhalal” i.e. Guidance and Misguidance, as well as “Idhlal” i.e. misguiding others, to the servant. The conjunctions are both Shari'ah based and rationally based.As for the Shari'ah Qara'in(indications), these are reflected in the several verses attributing “Al-Hidayah Wal-Dhalal Wal-Idhlal” i.e. Guidance, being misguided and misguiding others, to the servant.

Allah (swt) says:

“Who receives guidance receives it for his own benefit; who goes astray does so to his own loss.”

[17-15]

Allah (swt) says:

“No hurt can come to you from those who stray if you follow guidance.”

[5-105]

Allah (swt) says:

“He, then, that receives guidance benefits his own soul.”

[39-41]

Allah (swt) says:

“And they are the ones that received guidance.”

[2-157]

Allah (swt) says:

“And the unbelievers will say: Our God! Show us those among Jinns and men who misled us.”

[41-29]

Allah (swt) says:

“Say if I am astray I only stray to the loss of my own soul.”

[34-50]

Hence, the literal meaning of these Ayat contains a clear indication that it is man who initiates "Al-Huda Wa-d-Dhalal" i.e. "Guidance and Misguidance", that he misguides himself and misguides others and that Satan also misguides. The attribution of “Al-Hidayah Wa-d-Dhalal" to man and Misguidance to Satan. The Ayah indicate that man can be guided by himself and misguided by himself. This acts as a Qareenah (indication) to indicate that the attribution of “Al-Hidayah Wa-l-Idhalal" to Allah (swt) is not a direct attribution, but rather an attribution of Creation; for if we were to place all the verses together and perceive them from a Shari'ah angle, it becomes clear that each set of Ayat is dedicated to a different side; for the Ayah says:

"Say it is Allah Who gives guidance towards the Truth."

[10-35] .

and the other Ayah says:

“Who receives guidance receives it for his own benefit"

[17-15];

The first one indicates that it is Allah (swt) Who has guided whereas the second one indicates that it is man who was guided. The guidance of Allah (swt) in the first Ayah is the Creation of the Guidance within the soul of man, i.e. the generating of the aptitude to be guided; the second Ayah indicates that man is the one who initiates what Allah (swt) has created in terms of aptitude towards being guided, thus he was guided. This is why Allah (swt) says in another Ayah:

“And We have shown him the two highways.”

[90-10].

i.e. the path of Al-Khayr and the path of Al-Sharr; meaning that We have placed in him the aptitude of “Al-Hidayah” (Guidance) and We have let him initiate the act of being guided himself. Hence, the Ayat that attribute “Al-Hidayah Wa-l-Idhlal" to man serve as a Shari'ah conjunction indicating that Allah (swt) has decided to dedicate the initiation of “Al-Hidayah” to man.

As for the rational Qareenah (indication), this is reflected in the fact that Allah (swt) accounts people; thus He (swt) rewards the Guided and punishes the Misguided. He (swt) made the accounting according to the consequences of man's actions.

Allah (swt) says:

“Whoever works righteousness benefits his own soul; whoever works evil, it is against his own soul.Nor is your Lord ever unjust to His servants.”

[41-46]

Harry! Who!

Harry Potter and Materialism

With the release of the final episode of Harry Potter, the reverence to a magical wizard will be coming to an end and the Harry Potter maniacs will have to search for another object of reverence to fill the spiritual emptiness - a malaise sustained by Western culture. However, the fact that reverence instinct is an inseparable part of the human makeup, various forms of reverence naturally appear which are triggered by the external environment such as the media.

So, if one form of reverence were to end another one emerges almost automatically. One particular form of reverence that is most common in the West is the reverence to pop stars, writers and sportsmen. Revering personalities for no matter how skilful or powerful they are is an irrational idea riddled with so many shortcomings.

Firstly, the very nature of reverence demands that human beings venerate an entity that is superior to him. Such an entity should be devoid of the human attributes of limitedness and dependency.

Secondly reverence to an entity should be a concept that take shape in the mind based on conclusive evidence. Writers, sportsman and scholars are humans and their so-called superior skills are prone to the same rules of created things.

That is, all created things are limited and dependent. Meaning that these skills do not exist forever. And the other inescapable reality is that every human being will die. The same can be said about the products of human mind such as technological inventions and gadgets. They are also limited. Limited in the sense that when people have used all the functions of a tool or a gadget, the need for a better gadget arises. Ironically, these gadgets are not promoted as just tools or means that enable a person to accomplish a specific task.

For example, a car is not advertised as a means of transport that will help you to get from point A to point B. Rather advertisements claim that owning a certain brand of car will ‘give you the ultimate happiness'. Therefore, if anyone were in pursuit of acquiring the latest gadget to 'achieve the ultimate happiness' he/she will never achieve it because better innovations emerge all the time. Simply put, there is no ‘ultimate gadget’. Perhaps this explains the reason why Westerners and their imitators find it extremely hard to grasp the concept of 'certainty' .

Reliance upon humans and the products of the human mind for answers to the most fundamental questions about life, universe and mankind will yield uncertainty. The success of Harry potter is so overwhelming because it revolves around a fictional character that could perform extraordinary feats. It is understandable that ideas such as depicted in Harry Potter episodes that break the shackles of human limitation can captivate human nature that is constrained by limitedness and dependency. Some may argue that this sort of rabid addiction to fictional stories are better than living a life of chasing more cars, more gadgets and accessories.

Such people would also claim that chasing wealth is materialism and being addicted to fictional stories is spiritualism.

From an Islamic perspective, acquiring wealth is not the problematic issue. Rather, elevating the thought about wealth acquisition to the ideological level and making that thought the basis for other partial thoughts is what contradicts Islam. Also, it should be noted that, from an Islamic angle, obsession with wealth and addiction to fictional characters emanate from the same corrupt fundamental thought: venerating created things. Books are the products of the human mind, which is also created. Technological gadgets are also the products of the human mind. Reverence to any assortment of created thing is considered materialism. To be in awe of one’s individuality is also materialism. Similarly detestation of wealth does not strengthen a person’s relationship with the Creator. Islam does not consider created things as indices to determine the spiritual elevation of a person.

Blind Faith

Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton Bart

"Since arriving at an age of discretion, the beauty and the simple purity of Islam have always appealed to me. I could never, though born and brought up as a Christian, believe in the dogmatic aspect of the Church, and have always placed reason and commonsense above blind faith."

Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton Bart

Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton Bart, formerly Sir Charles Edward Archibald Watkins Hamilton, embraced Islam on 20th December 1923. A well-known English statesman, fifth baronet of the first (1770) and third baronet of the second creation (1819) Sir Abdullah was born on 10th December 1876. He was a Lieutinent in the Royal Defence Corp. and was also the President of the Selsy Conservative Association.

Rising Gas Prices

Gas Prices & Islam

The corporations are making billions in profits through the sale of natural resources. As the price or production of gasoline increases, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also increases as a result. The additional revenue collected through gas taxes also contributes to a higher GDP by enabling the government to spend more. Higher GDP is a sign of a healthy economy according to the Capitalist way of thinking. Islam has a completely different view of measuring the health of the economy. In the view of the Capitalists, man has unlimited needs and therefore there is a scarcity of resources. In order to alleviate this scarcity, they define the key economic problem to be that of production. Islam on the other hand, correctly recognizes that each individual has limited needs which must be fulfilled for his survival and be satisfied. In line with this recognition, the Islamic economic system correctly identifies the fundamental problem as being one of distribution, not production.

Soaring gas prices have been felt by people around the world. In the US, individuals on fixed incomes (such as retirees) are forced to pawn their possessions in order to pay for the higher cost of gas. On CNN, one such individual was pawning his 100 year-old watch to generate the additional funds necessary. His situation is not an isolated one. Pawn shops are noticing a rise in business from people who need loans to pay for gas. In Canada, commuters are noticing the spike in price as well. During the past week prices have jumped an average of almost 4 cents per liter raising the price to over $1 per liter in many areas of the country.

An article in the Toronto Star authored by the former director of investor relations at Petro-Canada, attempted to deflect the blame of the rising gas prices away from “Big Oil” companies. Instead, he suggested that the real blame should be directed towards the government; 40% of the cost at the pump is associated with gas taxes. Although this is true, it is also true that “Big Oil” has posted record profits. According to USA Today, gas companies reported record profits during their 3rd quarter. Exxon reported net income to be up 75% to $9.92 billion, while Royal Dutch Shell reported net income to be up 68% to $9 billion. So who is really to blame?

To simply assign blame either to “Big Oil” or to the government would be a superficial approach at best. After all, it’s a well known and accepted fact that governments usually work on behalf of business’s interests. For example, former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien went to Turkmenistan on behalf of PetroKazakhstan. The Globe and Mail reported that “Bernard Isautier, chief executive of Calgary-based PetroKazakhstan Inc., has publicly credited Mr. Chrétien, "because of his name," for landing the company high-level meetings in China and Iran”.

Islamic Insight into the Oil Issue

When trying to identify the root cause of the sky-rocketing gas prices it is important to reflect deeply upon the ayah that Allah (swt) has revealed to understand the nature of society. Allah (swt) revealed:

“When it is said to them: "Follow what Allah has revealed:" They say: "No! We shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! Even though their fathers were void of wisdom and guidance?”

[ 2:170]

What we see from this ayah, is that people stuck to their “ways” – or “the man made system” – even when the Truth was revealed to them. Extending this thinking to the oil problem we see that by laying the blame on the symptoms of the problem we fall into the same trap. What we need to do is question the Capitalist system itself. The democratic/Capitalist ideology is based on the separation of religion (deen) from the running of man’s affairs. It is, therefore, void of wisdom and guidance. The oil companies and the politicians are players who benefit from the system (and therefore work to ensure its continuance), but it is the system itself that is to blame for the high oil prices. It is the system which gave the elite the power to legislate according to their benefit. Who gave the right to the corporate elite to extract and profit from the oil wealth?

The New York Times reported "the federal government collected little more money last year than it did five years ago from the companies that extracted more than $60 billion in oil and gas from publicly owned lands and coastal waters."

It also reported that "Companies that pump oil and gas on federal property are required to pay the government royalties, usually 12 percent to 16 percent of the value of what they sell."

So the public, the “owner” of the land and wealth, gets only 12-16%.

Islamic Economics: More than Honest Businessmen

Most Muslims are familiar with the idea that Islam is a complete way of life. The challenge lies in understanding how this idea translates into practice; how would an Islamic State manage the production and allocation of resources in accordance with the laws of Allah (swt).

Firstly, economy is based on the fact that the true owner of all wealth is Allah (swt). As Allah (swt) has revealed:

“It is He who created for you all that exists on earth.”

[2:29]

“He put at your disposal that which is in the heavens and that which is in the earth, all from Him.”

[ 45:12]

Therefore, Allah (swt) is in reality the true owner of wealth and it is He (swt) who has entrusted its use to human beings.

Taking the oil as an example; it would be illegal for the Islamic State to simply follow the western model of giving up oil exploitation rights to a handful few. Islam recognizes three categories of ownership; private ownership (which is the default), state ownership (e.g. government offices are actually owned by the state itself), and public ownership. Oil would be an example of a property that is held under public ownership. This is according to the Prophet’s (saw) saying:

“People share in three things: Water, Pasture lands, and Fire.”

[Abu Dawud]

Oil, natural gas, nuclear energy, coal, and hydroelectricity, are all examples of energy sources that would facilitate “fire”. These natural resources are therefore administered by the Khaleefah on behalf of the Ummah and the profit has to be distributed to all people living within the Islamic State’s boundaries. These types of property are distinct from state owned property, in that public property can only be disposed of in a way that benefits all. In contrast, state property is disposed at the discretion of the Khaleefah. Under such regulation, the Ummah would be protected from fluctuations in oil prices since it owns it.

Based on the above, it should be clear that Islam has the ability to solve all of man’s problems without the need for other systems. To be clear, as Muslims we must take our solutions – be it practices of worship, politics, economy or otherwise – from Islam, and not from any other system. This idea is based on the following hadith where the Prophet (saw) condemned the taking of ideas from outside of Islam:

“He who introduces in our order something that is alien to it, must be rejected.”

[Muslim]

Key Problem: GDP or Distribution of Wealth?

As discussed at the beginning, the corporations are making billions in profits through the sale of natural resources. As the price or production of gasoline increases, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also increases as a result. The additional revenue collected through gas taxes also contributes to a higher GDP by enabling the government to spend more. Higher GDP is a sign of a healthy economy according to the Capitalist way of thinking.

Islam has a completely different view of measuring the health of the economy. In the view of the Capitalists, man has unlimited needs and therefore there is a scarcity of resources. In order to alleviate this scarcity, they define the key economic problem to be that of production. Islam on the other hand, correctly recognizes that each individual has limited needs which must be fulfilled for his survival and be satisfied. In line with this recognition, the Islamic economic system correctly identifies the fundamental problem as being one of distribution, not production.

Using reason, we can understand that good production is associated with good science. For example, the amount of oil that can be extracted out of the ground would be based on understanding the physics of extracting a thick liquid out of the ground. The one that understands the reality the best will have the highest rate of extraction. Therefore, the issue of production is not something that should be the focus of an economic system, as it is ultimately taken care of by good science. An economic system should instead focus on what type of society should be built. That is, it should examine the problem based on examining the reality of the human being. Allah (swt) knows what is best for the human being and therefore we turn to Him (swt) for guidance in any issue, including economics. According to the Shariah, Allah (swt) has guided us to understand that the focus of economy should be distribution and not production. Allah (swt) has revealed:

“Lest it circulates solely among the wealthy from amongst you.”

[ 59:7]

This ayah gives the illah (reason) as to why Allah (swt) ordered the distribution of wealth acquired from the Bani Nadeer expedition. The money was exclusively shared among the poor while the rich were excluded, in order to strike a balance in the provision of the basic needs within the society.

When analyzing the problem of high oil prices we see that the problem is made worse by the fact that the corporations and the government work to increase production, instead of alleviating the impoverishment of their citizens. For example, the society is not acting upon news that people are turning to pawn shops to secure additional funds to pay for the higher price of gas. Also, neither the government nor the “corporate citizens” are trying to regulate the price of gas to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of wealth in society. It is important to recognize that this problem is not attributable to the greed of certain individuals, although it may be manifested in them. Instead it is a problem associated with the entire Capitalist system; the system works to maximize production to fulfill the (according to it) unlimited desires of man, which is how the economist defines the key economic problem. Such individuals do not care about the impact of the policies of the system on the society; they do not see this as the key problem therefore they do not implement solutions to solve it. They do not care how poor the masses will become. What matters is that the elites are able to make profits and pursue their desires. Although the entire problem does not exist in the Islamic State since oil is a public property, Islam approaches the problem of economy from the correct perspective ensuring that the basic needs of citizenry are attended to and cared for – regardless of the situation.

Islam: The Solution for Humanity’s Problems

Based on the preceding discussion, it is clear that Islam has solutions that are unique and address the human being in a comprehensive manner. Understanding the correct solution enables us to understand how Islam is a way of life in a concrete manner. Such an understanding help us to train our aqliyyah (intellect) to think according to what Allah (swt) has revealed to us. Furthermore, knowing how Islam solves our problems strengthens our confidence in Islam as a way of life and strengthens our connection with Allah (swt). With such a mindset we can work with the people around us, Muslims and non-Muslims, to demonstrate how Islam organizes society in a unique way that strikes a balance in an amazing manner guaranteeing happiness and tranquility. Gas prices are something that are on people’s minds. This article gives us some ideas on how the issue can be discussed in a way that invites people to Islam.

May Allah (swt) help us to convey Islam in the appropriate manner and in a manner that pleases Him and Him alone.

“Verily, Allah will help those who help His (Cause). Truly, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty.”

[22:40]

The Chinese Executioners

Massacre of the Muslims

THE CHINESE executioners came for Ismail Semed before 9am. They led him out of his cell as the sun climbed over the Tien Shan mountains in the land he called East Turkestan. The day before, he had seen his wife, Buhejer, his son, 7, and his daughter, 6, for the last time. After three years in prison and 15 months of uncertainty since a secret trial, they had 10 minutes to say farewell.

Semed was 37, a Muslim and a political activist. He was not guilty of murder nor any act of violence.

Three Chinese judges sentenced him to death for "attempting to split the motherland" and possession of firearms and explosives. He said he was tortured into a confession. Two men whose evidence was used against him were already dead, having been executed in 1999.

In his final moments with his family - his parents, brother and sister were also there, all crying - he quietly accepted his fate.
"I did my best to prove I was innocent. I am so sorry that I leave you with two children. Please take care of them and let them get a good education," he told his wife.

The end seems to have been quick. A group of prisoners were executed at the jail that morning, February 8, Chinese officials confirmed, and economy was the order of the day.
They gave Semed's body back to his family at a dusty cemetery where devout Muslims are laid to rest with no tombstones to mark their graves.

Buhejer described it to a reporter who called from Washington on behalf of Radio Free Asia, about the only source of regular news on this forbidding place. "I saw only one bullet hole," she said, "in his heart."
The dead man was one of 9m Uighur Muslims in China's far west, a Turkic people whose quest for national identity is one of history's lost causes.

The dying embers of their struggle flamed into protests, shootings and bombings in the 1990s, all concealed from the world until September 11, 2001, when China discovered the usefulness of the "war on terror".
Today China is waging a propaganda and security battle to guarantee its control over Xinjiang, its name for the vast province rich in minerals and strategic supplies of oil and gas which are vital to the expanding Chinese economy.

China claims that Al-Qaeda has trained more than 1,000 members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, classified as a terrorist group by America and the United Nations.
The group took its name from the short-lived Republic of East Turkestan that was declared in Xinjiang after the second world war, then crushed by the communist revolution of 1949.

China has persuaded Pakistan and Kazakhstan to hand over captured militants for interrogation, secret trials and execution, a policy that may have fuelled the fundamentalist rage now gripping Pakistan.
Semed, alleged to be a political thinker behind the group, was caught while studying in Rawal-pindi in 2003 and was sent back.

Next month 1,600 Chinese troops will join exercises with Russia and the former Soviet Central Asian republics to cooperate against Islamic extremists.

Chinese security services have also created a pervasive apparatus of informers and deployed new units of black-clad anti terrorist police to patrol around mosques and markets in the cities of Xinjiang.
But the iron-fisted security policy has made more enemies than friends. Extensive travel and interviews in Xinjiang this month unveiled a society segregated by religion and ethnicity, divided by reciprocal distrust, living in separate sections of tightly policed cities.

The same human rights abuses that exist across China - forced labour for peasants, children trafficked to slave as beggars, girls lured into sweatshops - deepen political tensions here and turn young men to violence.
Two western intelligence officers said the Chinese consistently exaggerated Uighur terrorist links with Al-Qaeda to exploit any opportunity to strike at their home-grown opponents. Chinese information was unreliable and no western intelligence service had handed back Muslim citizens to China, they said.

One of the officers said the real concern was that Chinese repression was creating recruits for terrorism.
In recent weeks has come proof that 58 years of Chinese military occupation have crushed significant opposition but failed to win loyalty. Officials have confiscated the passports of thousands of Muslims in a crackdown to break the growing influence of militant Islam.

Police ordered the Muslims to hand in their passports and told them that the documents would be returned only for travel approved by the authorities.

The aim is to stop Chinese Muslims slipping away to join militants in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The decision has inflamed resentment among Muslims preparing to go to Mecca for the annual hajj in December. "Bin Laden, hao [good]," said one angry Muslim, who had been deprived of his passport. "Saddam, hao. Arafat, hao."
The memory of state violence exercises a powerful deterrent, however. Flying into the border city of Yining, the Chinese airliner descends over dun-coloured mountains into a bountiful valley rich in orchards and farms, home to a mixture of Uighurs, Kazakhs and Russians.

The ethnic Chinese inhabitants of Yining stick to their own districts. It is the tenth anniversary of a time when blood ran in the streets here and bitterness still runs deep.

"I was in the People's Armed Police when the rebellion broke out in '97," said a burly Chinese driver, who proceeded to give a vivid and satisfied account of this barely known massacre.

"For a while we lost control," he said. "The insurgents got into an armoury, killed our men and seized the weapons. There was chaos. We brought in the army - they changed into police uniforms - and then we got even. The central government ordered us to crush them without any hesitation. Believe me, we did.

"We lost a few people but we killed - I don't know exactly - thousands of them. These people know our strength. We taught them a good hard lesson."

Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswoman and politician now in exile, says she saw a horrific police video of the "good hard lesson" when she went to Yining in 1997 to investigate. It showed unarmed adolescent boys and girls shot dead on camera, their bodies tossed into trucks. A mother and her group of children, aged five or six, crumpled under a volley of bullets. The taped slaughter went on and on, with excited commands and shouts of glee from the Chinese on the soundtrack. Perhaps one of them was the driver.
A subdued hush has now descended on the city. The cold looks from Muslims when a Chinese walked into a shaded cafe near the main mosque told their own story. He left sharply.

Today the clash of civilisations resounds loudest in Kashgar, 2,400 miles west of Beijing, a crossroads of religions, commerce and culture. In January, only 48 miles to the southwest, "anti terrorist" units raided a training camp in the mountains where the old Silk Road winds into Pakistan, and killed 18 men with the loss of one policeman.

The clash was hailed by the state media, which called it a blow to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. But Chinese residents said the operation was bungled, allowing militants to escape.

"They made a mess of it and those people are still out there. We know they have many smuggled weapons," said a retired military officer, "so now our side is distributing arms to trained men in the bingtuan."

He was referring to the gigantic army-controlled companies that built up Chinese economic activity in Xinjiang and still dominate its business.
"All cars travelling south from Kashgar must have an armed escort along a section of the road through the desert," said a local tour operator.
China has invested billions of yuan to modernise Kashgar, renovating the square in front of its principal mosque and building new hotels to accommodate backpackers and upmarket western tourists. It has also imported thousands of ethnic Han Chinese to populate new apartments, a pattern of mass immigration used across Xinjiang.

They dwell in effective segregation from the Muslims, who keep to their old quarters of mud-brick houses, mosques and reeking alleys where freshly killed sheep hang up for sale.
The communist party does its best to achieve integration through politics. According to the Kashgar Daily, 84% of local members are Uighurs.

"Good relations are only on the surface," said a Chinese businesswoman. "They're not real."
Loud-mouthed Chinese tourists strut around the precincts of the great Id Kah mosque, reclaimed only at prayer times by the Uighur men who sit outside and stare at them sullenly.

In 1949 the Uighurs were 90% of the population of Xinjiang. Today they account for less than half.
"It is the classic colonialist model," said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch, author of a critical report on Xinjiang.

In Urumqi, the industrialised capital city of Xinjiang, there was evidence that repression had united Uighurs with rival Muslim sects. A red banner hung from the eaves of a 100-year-old mosque, whose lines recalled a classical Chinese temple and whose congregation were members of the Hui, a Muslim minority from central China. "All pilgrimages to Mecca must be organised by the National Islamic Organisation under the law," it read.

"They have taken all our passports too," said an elder at the mosque.
"We Muslims must follow the party and the government to make our prayers in a stable setting and under a correct policy," the imam warned his flock at Friday prayers.

Chinese intelligence woke up late to the fact that Hui Muslims were being financed by extremists from the Middle East.
Their clerics, influenced by Saudi Arabia's purist Salafi doctrine, often fulminated against Israel and the West.

"The Hui are much more radical than the Uighurs," said Bequelin. Such radicalisation is fuelled by injustices endured by many Chinese but all the more potent when suffered by an angry minority.
South of Kashgar, an almost medieval system of forced labour, known as the hasha, continues to exist on plantations, where local Muslims are ordered to pick almonds and fruit for sale to the thriving markets of China.

The government denied it, but several people in Kashgar said their relatives were engaged in such unpaid work, and a fruit wholesaler in Urumqi admitted that it still went on.
The practice dates from the era of Khans and slave traders and was supposedly abolished after "liberation" by the Chinese communist party.

Then there is outright child slavery, exposed last month in a brave report by the Hong Kong magazine Phoenix Weekly. More than 4,000 Uighur children have been kidnapped and turned into beggars or thieves by "big brother" Fagin figures, an estimate confirmed by the provincial welfare office.

The gangmasters, usually Uighurs themselves, set daily targets of up to £50 for stealing or begging, on pain of beatings. The children are sent to richer parts of China, the girls subjected to sexual harassment and the boys tempted into drug addiction to make them easier to manipulate.

Almost as bad is the plight of hundreds of Muslim girls conscripted from desert villages and sent for "work experience" in factory sweatshops. Last March Chinese officials went into the dirt-poor villages around Yarkand, south of Kashgar, to collect more than 200 girls as young as 15 for a work programme.

The girls found themselves labouring long hours in a factory more than 1,000 miles from home on the east coast of China. Their promised wages of £33 a month went unpaid.

Several girls escaped and made their way back to Xinjiang. Chinese officials then threatened their relatives with punishment.
The other families fear that their daughters will drift from factories into prostitution, a frequent refuge for the penniless migrant female in China.

In a traditional Muslim society that fears shame and values dignity, such a fate can be seen as worse than death. It is a powerful incentive for the militants.

All over Xinjiang, China can point to growing prosperity, cleaner water, new schools, paved roads, modern hospitals, efficient airports, cybercom-merce and huge energy plants.

The price, say Uighurs, is the slow extinction of their identity. Their children take compulsory Chinese lessons. Teaching in Uighur is banned at the main university. Their fabled literature, poetry and music are fading under the assault of karaoke culture. Their history is rewritten.

For western tourists, who come to Xinjiang to roam the ruins of the Silk Road, the Chinese have erected a new museum in Urumqi. It portrays the final Chinese conquest of this harsh territory, first claimed by the Han emperors in the era before Christ.

The slick exhibits equate its 9m Uighurs with the 4,900 Tartars, 11,100 Russians and 14,500 Uzbek inhabitants.
"All cooperate as one family under the glorious nationality policy of the party," an inscription in Chinese characters proclaims.
To the family of Ismail Semed, however, it stands for grief, not glory.
Additional reporting: Sara Hashash <BR>
Bloody history of Xinjiang <BR>Xinjiang province is crossed by the centuries-old Silk Road trade route once travelled by Marco Polo
1949 Conquered by Chinese communists
1990s Shootings and bombings against Chinese targets
1997 Massacre of Muslims in border town uprising
2001 China joins war on terror, extradites and executes militants
2007 Crackdown continues to sustain oil and gas, building boom and gold rush
Population About 20m - 45% Uighur Muslims, 40% Han Chinese. As many as 45 other minority nationalities, including Kazakhs and Mongols, officially recognition

Article of the Sunday Times